Unusual hair loss, losing hope

PerOhlin

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First post and a long one as none of this makes sense, a bit of background information on my hair loss: In December 2019 at the age of 19 I first noticed any noticable hairloss, it began as one or two hairs that I would see on my pillow or clothes, at the time I was about a Norwood 1 with very little recession and perfect juvenile density, I initially assumed male pattern baldness has kicked in and I'll recede to a Norwood 2 which was fine by me (I'm Norwood 2 right now). By mid January I was noticing significantly more hairs falling out and at some point in time I had realised there is a somewhat noticable 'thin spot' on my right temple, it was more or less coin sized and didn't appear on my left temple, at this point I began to worry that I might have alopecia areata. That being said I didn't give it too much thought as it was just a bit thinner than the rest of my head and was not quite a bald spot. For the next two months my hairloss spiraled out of control, everytime I would get a haircut, which was every 2-3 weeks, my barber would tell me my hair is a thinner, eventually when I last cut my hair on March 12 2020 my barber straight up told me I need to start putting something in my hair otherwise I'll be a 'cueball in no time'. The thin spot seemed to have dissapeared but in reality the rest of my head became just as thin as that single spot.

By the end of March I was grappling with the realisation that I've probably lost more than 50% of my hair density, I should also say that my hairline stayed a Norwood 1 the entire time and I was losing hair all over my head, at the sides and back as well which seemed very unusual as male pattern baldness typically doesn't affect these areas, that being said I definitely appeared to be losing more of the DHT affected follicles, more hair loss on the top of my head than the sides. In April I shaved my head to cope with much thinner my hairs become, my hair before and my hair by the time I shaved it was night and day but at this point if anyone was to look at me, even the most experienced hair loss professional, they would tell me I'm delusional and not experiecing hair loss, my own family constantly told me my hair is basically the same and I'm imagining things.

As my hair began to grow back after shaving it, by June nobody could doubt the fact that my hair is a lot thinner than it use to be. It was also falling out every single day and was all around my desk, my clothes, my bed, my sink... at this point I began to consider finasteride as an option even though I couldn't confidently say its male pattern baldness. I ultimately got scared off of it by stories of erectile dysfunction and gynecomastia and continued to use Nizoral shampoo and do scalp massages in a vain effort to save my hair, this was to no avail and I probably lost even more follices as a result of the scalp massages. At this point in time, it was July and I had given up and accepted the fact that no matter what I do, I'll be a bald man soon and set out to just enjoy the hair I still have left, I had no need for concealers, hair fibres or hats at this point, I also wasn't scared of the wind. Fast forward to September I visisted both a doctor as well as a two trichologists, the doctor had me do blood tests to check if I got any deficiencies and if my thyroid is working as it should, came out with perfect results for everything, from my LH to my testosterone, everything was as it should be with the exception of my prolactin being slightly higher than average. One of the trichologists just said its diffuse thinning male pattern baldness and tried to sell me a £300 minoxidil and caffeine snake oil despite giving me nothing to actually stop the hair loss, the other one examined my follicies and said they're miniaturising and I should take finasteride. I should also mention that by this time I had noticed that I'm losing body hair, both my pubic as well as chest hair began to shed a bit. That was the last time I made an effort to do anything about my hair loss, its been happening for over a year now, I'm still not exactly bald but I can no longer leave the house without it being obvious even using hair fibres, from January up until now my eyebrows and eyelashes have also thinned out. I have no clue what to do, if it wasn't for how long my hair is right now then my hair loss would be insanely obvious, I'm considering finasteride and oral minoxidil but at this point I'll take any research chemical or anything with a black box warning as long as it helps me, I even considered something like Xeljanz in case I'm suffering from alopecia totalis but if that was the case I probably should be entirely bald now at least in one place on my body. Please help, I have no idea what to do and I'll be forced to shave my head bald soon and this time permamtently.

TL;DR Diffuse thinning all over my head for the past year, hairline went from NW1 to 2.5? Eyebrows and eyelashes thinning, do I take finasteride and oral minoxidil?
 
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Selb

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Reminds me of my hair loss. You didn’t take Accutane did you?

Also if you’re losing in other places there may be an auto immune aspect to it. I’d suggest for you to find a hair specialist who can diagnose you properly. Write down all your symptoms, pretty much this post written out.

My guess is that you’re going through some kind of immune related hair loss. But there may be a male pattern baldness aspect to it, especially if you have the history for it. Taking care of both is the best thing to do. So finasteride and min for now and then diagnose the rest of your hair loss
 

DoctorHouse

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First post and a long one as none of this makes sense, a bit of background information on my hair loss: In December 2019 at the age of 19 I first noticed any noticable hairloss, it began as one or two hairs that I would see on my pillow or clothes, at the time I was about a Norwood 1 with very little recession and perfect juvenile density, I initially assumed male pattern baldness has kicked in and I'll recede to a Norwood 2 which was fine by me (I'm Norwood 2 right now). By mid January I was noticing significantly more hairs falling out and at some point in time I had realised there is a somewhat noticable 'thin spot' on my right temple, it was more or less coin sized and didn't appear on my left temple, at this point I began to worry that I might have alopecia areata. That being said I didn't give it too much thought as it was just a bit thinner than the rest of my head and was not quite a bald spot. For the next two months my hairloss spiraled out of control, everytime I would get a haircut, which was every 2-3 weeks, my barber would tell me my hair is a thinner, eventually when I last cut my hair on March 12 2020 my barber straight up told me I need to start putting something in my hair otherwise I'll be a 'cueball in no time'. The thin spot seemed to have dissapeared but in reality the rest of my head became just as thin as that single spot.

By the end of March I was grappling with the realisation that I've probably lost more than 50% of my hair density, I should also say that my hairline stayed a Norwood 1 the entire time and I was losing hair all over my head, at the sides and back as well which seemed very unusual as male pattern baldness typically doesn't affect these areas, that being said I definitely appeared to be losing more of the DHT affected follicles, more hair loss on the top of my head than the sides. In April I shaved my head to cope with much thinner my hairs become, my hair before and my hair by the time I shaved it was night and day but at this point if anyone was to look at me, even the most experienced hair loss professional, they would tell me I'm delusional and not experiecing hair loss, my own family constantly told me my hair is basically the same and I'm imagining things.

As my hair began to grow back after shaving it, by June nobody could doubt the fact that my hair is a lot thinner than it use to be. It was also falling out every single day and was all around my desk, my clothes, my bed, my sink... at this point I began to consider finasteride as an option even though I couldn't confidently say its male pattern baldness. I ultimately got scared off of it by stories of erectile dysfunction and gynecomastia and continued to use Nizoral shampoo and do scalp massages in a vain effort to save my hair, this was to no avail and I probably lost even more follices as a result of the scalp massages. At this point in time, it was July and I had given up and accepted the fact that no matter what I do, I'll be a bald man soon and set out to just enjoy the hair I still have left, I had no need for concealers, hair fibres or hats at this point, I also wasn't scared of the wind. Fast forward to September I visisted both a doctor as well as a two trichologists, the doctor had me do blood tests to check if I got any deficiencies and if my thyroid is working as it should, came out with perfect results for everything, from my LH to my testosterone, everything was as it should be with the exception of my prolactin being slightly higher than average. One of the trichologists just said its diffuse thinning male pattern baldness and tried to sell me a £300 minoxidil and caffeine snake oil despite giving me nothing to actually stop the hair loss, the other one examined my follicies and said they're miniaturising and I should take finasteride. I should also mention that by this time I had noticed that I'm losing body hair, both my pubic as well as chest hair began to shed a bit. That was the last time I made an effort to do anything about my hair loss, its been happening for over a year now, I'm still not exactly bald but I can no longer leave the house without it being obvious even using hair fibres, from January up until now my eyebrows and eyelashes have also thinned out. I have no clue what to do, if it wasn't for how long my hair is right now then my hair loss would be insanely obvious, I'm considering finasteride and oral minoxidil but at this point I'll take any research chemical or anything with a black box warning as long as it helps me, I even considered something like Xeljanz in case I'm suffering from alopecia totalis but if that was the case I probably should be entirely bald now at least in one place on my body. Please help, I have no idea what to do and I'll be forced to shave my head bald soon and this time permamtently.

TL;DR Diffuse thinning all over my head for the past year, hairline went from NW1 to 2.5? Eyebrows and eyelashes thinning, do I take finasteride and oral minoxidil?
Did your doctor check your thyroid antiboidies. Some primary or family doctors only run thyroid panels without testing the antibodies. Mine did until I went to an endocrinologist. I tested normal on all my thyroid levels except the antibodies. Make sure you have immunoglobulin tests too. Did they do a full autoimmune panel? If everything comes out normal, you are just experiencing diffuse male pattern balding. The reason you notice it more is because you have fine hair and below average natural density. Those two factors handicap you if you start to thin.
 

PerOhlin

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Reminds me of my hair loss. You didn’t take Accutane did you?

Also if you’re losing in other places there may be an auto immune aspect to it. I’d suggest for you to find a hair specialist who can diagnose you properly. Write down all your symptoms, pretty much this post written out.

My guess is that you’re going through some kind of immune related hair loss. But there may be a male pattern baldness aspect to it, especially if you have the history for it. Taking care of both is the best thing to do. So finasteride and min for now and then diagnose the rest of your hair loss
I think you might be spot on, male pattern baldness is taking place no doubt with the way my temples are receeding and I think there is an autoimmune aspect to it, just no clue how to tackle it as everyone just wants me to take minoxidil and leave it at that. That being said there are no bald men in my family. My father is 49 and only recentely became NW3 after 25+ years of being NW2. No accutane no, but if it helps my mom is basically has almost the same pattern of thinning hair.
Did your doctor check your thyroid antiboidies. Some primary or family doctors only run thyroid panels without testing the antibodies. Mine did until I went to an endocrinologist. I tested normal on all my thyroid levels except the antibodies. Make sure you have immunoglobulin tests too. Did they do a full autoimmune panel? If everything comes out normal, you are just experiencing diffuse male pattern balding. The reason you notice it more is because you have fine hair and below average natural density. Those two factors handicap you if you start to thin.
The only tests that were run was a basic thyroid function test, Serum TSH level test and a Serum free T4 level one, no antibody test no so I suppose getting that done will now be my priority. My question is though if it is just male pattern baldness then will finasteride do me any good as far as the density in the sides and back of my head? Also prior to January last year I had very thick hair, top tier density, it just went down the drain within 3 months and now I'm soon gonna be bald it seems.
 

Evocator

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Have you checked your prolactin and Vitamin D?
 

DoctorHouse

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I think you might be spot on, male pattern baldness is taking place no doubt with the way my temples are receeding and I think there is an autoimmune aspect to it, just no clue how to tackle it as everyone just wants me to take minoxidil and leave it at that. That being said there are no bald men in my family. My father is 49 and only recentely became NW3 after 25+ years of being NW2. No accutane no, but if it helps my mom is basically has almost the same pattern of thinning hair.

The only tests that were run was a basic thyroid function test, Serum TSH level test and a Serum free T4 level one, no antibody test no so I suppose getting that done will now be my priority. My question is though if it is just male pattern baldness then will finasteride do me any good as far as the density in the sides and back of my head? Also prior to January last year I had very thick hair, top tier density, it just went down the drain within 3 months and now I'm soon gonna be bald it seems.
Finasteride helps with male pattern baldness and with diffuse thinning you will need topical minoxidil.
 

PerOhlin

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Have you checked your prolactin and Vitamin D?
Prolactin slightly elavated, nothing too alarming. Vitamin D perfectly normal and now I also supplement it.
Finasteride helps with male pattern baldness and with diffuse thinning you will need topical minoxidil.
How can one apply minxodil for diffuse thinning? Rubbing in the thing into your entire scalp?
 

DoctorHouse

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Prolactin slightly elavated, nothing too alarming. Vitamin D perfectly normal and now I also supplement it.

How can one apply minxodil for diffuse thinning? Rubbing in the thing into your entire scalp?
Use a dropper or the foam and put it in the thinning areas. You may have to use more than usual.
 

Doingitright

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f*** its over then isn't it?...

Did you thin diffusely just at the top of your head or back and sides as well?
Left side of head above ears around the the nape of my neck, only on one side.

In fairness I started treatment and cleaned my diet up and started exercising all at once, so diet could have been a huge factor especially with non-patterned hair loss. The finasteride helped thicken top of head and hair line.
 

DarkHairHair

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Not true, I have dupa and finasteride resolved my problem entirely within 4 months.
are you sure you have dupa then ? Because i am on fina since 1 years and fina doesnt work on me and i have never seen anyone recover from dupa in internet
 

20YearsOnFin

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My guess is that you’re going through some kind of immune related hair loss. But there may be a male pattern baldness aspect to it, especially if you have the history for it. Taking care of both is the best thing to do. So finasteride and min for now and then diagnose the rest of your hair loss
I would Pretty much follow that advice ...................... like what's already been said, you likely have male pattern baldness/miniaturization, but the accelerated shedding may well be something else, for example, I suffer from mild seb derm, so if my scalp becomes inflamed for too long I will shed excessive amounts irrespective of the fact that I'm taking finasteride, for me 100% there are at least two things that need to be controlled to stabilize my hair. It's not always easy to find what the other cause may be though, as everyone is different, so unless there was something obvious that has changed in your diet/lifestyle/ skin or hair care regime prior to December 2019 it might involve some trial and error or further professional advice to solve.
 

PerOhlin

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are you sure you have dupa then ? Because i am on fina since 1 years and fina doesnt work on me and i have never seen anyone recover from dupa in internet
Have you tried topical minoxidil? I don't think I will personally bother with it but I'm now planning to hop on finasteride and oral minoxidil, if that doesn't help then its over for me. I've read that 50% of men with DUPA benefit from finasteride so maybe you're just not in that 50%?
I would Pretty much follow that advice ...................... like what's already been said, you likely have male pattern baldness/miniaturization, but the accelerated shedding may well be something else, for example, I suffer from mild seb derm, so if my scalp becomes inflamed for too long I will shed excessive amounts irrespective of the fact that I'm taking finasteride, for me 100% there are at least two things that need to be controlled to stabilize my hair. It's not always easy to find what the other cause may be though, as everyone is different, so unless there was something obvious that has changed in your diet/lifestyle/ skin or hair care regime prior to December 2019 it might involve some trial and error or further professional advice to solve.
What do you do to fight scalp inflammation? I'm pretty sure mine might be inflamed because of how sore and painful it is when I move my hair around sometimes
 

20YearsOnFin

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What do you do to fight scalp inflammation?
This is the 64 million dollar question... It's likey to differ from person to person, but it's essentially about trying to keep your scalp balanced or at least feeling healthy. if your scalp feels discomfort there is likely something that needs to be addressed. This is going to sound contradictory but in my case when I'm in a cool climate country, I can't use any harsh products on my hair as it throws the balance out of wack, so no daily SLS products that strip my scalp, but I when I start to get some itching from dandruff I will occasionally need to use either some Nizoral (Ketoconazole) or piroctone olamine shampoo about once a month or so to keep that at bay.
If I'm in a much warmer and humid climate (where my head is sweating daily) the natural products are not enough and I will need to use the piroctone olamine much more often, so again it's all about finding the balance from not striping the scalp too much which causes inflammation and not striping it enough which can also cause inflammation if that makes sense. There are also many other causes or triggers like diet etc, so for some people supplements may also be beneficial if their diet is poor or they are known to be deficient.
 
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20YearsOnFin

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I don't think I will personally bother with it but I'm now planning to hop on finasteride and oral minoxidil, if that doesn't help then its over for me
I would just start with one oral treatment at the start and see how you get on for 6-12 months.
 

DarkHairHair

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Have you tried topical minoxidil? I don't think I will personally bother with it but I'm now planning to hop on finasteride and oral minoxidil, if that doesn't help then its over for me. I've read that 50% of men with DUPA benefit from finasteride so maybe you're just not in that 50%?

What do you do to fight scalp inflammation? I'm pretty sure mine might be inflamed because of how sore and painful it is when I move my hair around sometimes
Maybe im not responder to fina but it doesnt matter because i have never seen recovery from dupa on internet , forums , reddit ect.

And i don't want to take minoxidil
 
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